WMT Walmart Inc

By Sarah Nassauer 

Walmart Inc. is absorbing what remains of Jet.com staff into the rest of its operations, winding down the startup it bought for $3.3 billion three years ago while continuing to run the Jet.com website.

Walmart said it isn't planning to cut jobs and expects existing Jet employees to move to new roles within the retail giant. It declined to say how many employees currently work at Jet, an online seller of groceries, clothes and electronics, whose main offices are in Hoboken, N.J.

Soon after Walmart bought the startup, Jet executives, including founder Marc Lore took over responsibility for all of Walmart's U.S. e-commerce business. "We're now merging the rest of our Jet teams," including marketing, technology and analytics, Mr. Lore said in a company blog post Wednesday.

Walmart is eliminating remaining Jet leadership roles. Jet's President Simon Belsham will stay through early August to manage the transition, Mr. Lore said.

In recent years, Walmart has narrowed Jet's focus to attracting high-income urban shoppers to differentiate it from Walmart.com, scaling back sales expectations for the startup which launched pitching inexpensive everyday goods to a swath of shoppers. Jet's premium pitch has lured some brands that won't sell directly through Walmart.com, including Nike.

Last year, Jet relaunched as an e-commerce site focused primarily on New York and offering local goods, everyday items and groceries. Jet will focus on serving urban shoppers in areas where Walmart has few or no stores, including New York, said Mr. Lore.

The point of the Jet acquisition was to "infuse Walmart with additional experience and talent in the e-commerce space," said a Walmart spokesman Wednesday. For example, Jet executives have retooled Walmart e-commerce-fulfillment centers to speed online delivery times, he said. The retailer is working to hire "so many technologists right now. We are trying to leverage the ones we have," across the company, he said.

Write to Sarah Nassauer at sarah.nassauer@wsj.com

(END) Dow Jones Newswires

June 12, 2019 17:30 ET (21:30 GMT)

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